The Umba (russian: Умба) is a river on the
Kola Peninsula,
Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of ...
,
Russia. It discharges into the
Kandalaksha Gulf of the
White Sea. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .
Geography
The river's source is
Lake Umbozero, 100 km northeast of
Kandalaksha, located between the mountains of the
Khibiny Massif
The Khibiny Mountains (russian: Хиби́ны ; sjd, Umptek) is one of the two main mountain ranges of the Kola Peninsula, Russia, within the Arctic Circle, located between Imandra and Umbozero lakes. The range is also known as Khibiny Massif, K ...
and the
Lovozero Tundras on the Kola Peninsula. From there it flows south, through a landscape of forests and hills. The river alternates between rapids and more quiet sections, and it flows through several lakes, the largest of which is
Lake Kanozero
Kanozero (russian: Канозеро) is a lake on the river Umba in Murmansk Oblast in Russia.
The lake is 32 km long and between three and six kilometers wide. Ita area is . It is situated about halfway between Lake Umbozero and the White ...
.
The river exits from Lake Kanozero through two separate outlet channels, about five kilometers apart. The outlets are called the Kitsa and the Rodvinga, and the latter again divides forming yet another channel called the Nizma. The Kitsa and Rodvinga rejoins in
Lake Ponchozero, below which the river is again called the Umba, and it is rejoined by the Nizma a few kilometers further downstream.
The river empties into the
Kandalaksha Gulf at the
urban-type settlement of
Umba.
Its biggest tributary is the
Vyala
Yali ( ta, யாளி, IAST: Yāḷi), also called Vyala, is a Hindu mythological creature, portrayed with the head and the body of a lion, the trunk and the tusks of an elephant, and sometimes bearing equine features.
The creature is re ...
, which comes from
Lake Vyalozero and joins the Umba 15 km before the outlet to the sea.
Fishing
The Umba is known as a very good river for
salmon fishing. Along with the
Varzuga, it was the first river on the
Kola Peninsula to be made available for fishing tourism for foreign customers in the early 1990s, and infrastructure such as fishing lodges has been built along the river to accommodate this.
However, in recent years the number of salmon has dropped, as a result of
poaching by the local population, caused by an unemployment rate of a staggering 90% in the municipal centre of
Umba, and made worse by the fact that drivable roads go along the banks of the entire length of the river, making it easily accessible
Other
The Umba is also used for
Log driving, timber floating.
Semi-precious stones found in the Umba river are used for high quality, very rare jewelry.
References
Jussi Soppela – The Distinctive Features of Fishing Tourism on the Kola Peninsula
*{{cite map , publisher=Russian Federation, Murmansk Oblast
, title=Topographical map 1:200,000, edition=1992, section=12, 13, 15, 22
Rivers of Murmansk Oblast